Headlines from the last seven days
1 UNITED STATES
Biden pledges defensive support for Taiwan
Joe Biden said the US would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan if it came under attack from China, in an unusually forceful statement that drew a defiant response from Beijing.
Speaking on the second day of his visit to Japan, and against the backdrop of growing concern over Chinese military activity in the region, Biden said the US’s responsibility to protect the self-ruled island was “even stronger” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“That’s the commitment we made,” Biden said, after he told the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, that Washington backed Japan’s permanent membership of a reformed UN security council and Tokyo’s plans to beef up its security
The US president said any attempt by China to use force against Taiwan would “just not be appropriate … it would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine”.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the US was “playing with fire”, state media reported. The US was “using the ‘Taiwan card’ to contain China, and will itself get burned”, said Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the office.
2 LITHUANIA
Call for naval coalition to lift Black Sea blockade
Lithuania has called for a naval coalition “of the willing” to lift the Russian Black Sea blockade on Ukrainian grain exports. Foreign
